Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity (The Discovery Series) [Paperback]

Mary D. Garrard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0520228413 | ISBN-13: 978-0520228412 | Edition: 1

Mary D. Garrard, author of the acclaimed Artemisia Gentileschi, furthers her study of the seventeenth-century artist in this groundbreaking investigation of two little-known paintings. Taking as case studies the Seville Mary Magdalene and the Burghley House Susanna and the Elders, paintings of circa 1621-22 attributed to Artemisia, Garrard examines the ways that identity, gender, and market pressures interact both in the artist's work and in the criticism and connoisseurship that have surrounded it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In her new book, Garrard has taken two bold steps that challenge much received opinion in the 'discipline' of art history. Analyzing two of Gentileschi's least violent but most moving images, Garrard argues that the painter's personality is discernible no less in the subjects and their interpretation than in the 'style' of the works; consideration of both aspects is essential to understanding the meaning of these extraordinary pictures and her authorship. Perhaps even more important. Garrard makes crystal clear that Artemisia Gentileschi, far from a 'good woman painter,' was one of the major visual thinkers of her time." -Irving Lavin, coauthor with Marilyn Aronberg Lavin of La Liturgia d'Amore: Immagini dal Canto dei Cantici nell'arte di Cimabue, Michelangelo, e Rembrandt (Modena, 2000) "Linda Nochlin once famously asked: 'Why are there no great woman artists?' Challenged by that question, Mary Garrard has been brilliantly establishing the greatness of the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Now Garrard's findings culminate in a great book - one with all the acerbic panache of one of Artemisia's pictures." -George Hersey, author of Architecture and Geometry in the Age of the Baroque "By revealing a great woman painter's ways of expressing uniqueness while negotiating expectations, Mary Garrard helps each of us with the subtleties of remaining authentic while living in the world. Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622 is art history to live by." -Gloria Steinem"

From the Inside Flap

"In this admirable work, at once passionately argued and lucidly written, Professor Garrard effectively considers the social, psychological, and formal complexity of the shaping and reshaping not only of the artist's feminine and feminist identity in the misogynistic society of the seventeenth century, but also of that identity in the discipline of art history today."--Steven Z. Levine, author of Monet, Narcissus, and Self-Reflection

"Mary Garrard's detailed investigation into attribution problems in two Artemisia Gentileschi paintings brilliantly interweaves connoisseurship, constructions of gender and artistic identity, and historical analysis. The result is a richer and more nuanced vision of the best-known female artist in western history before the modern era, and an important contribution to feminist studies." --Whitney Chadwick, author of Women, Art, and Society

"In her new book, Garrard has taken two bold steps that challenge much received opinion in the 'discipline' of art history. Analyzing two of Gentileschi's least violent but most moving images, Garrard argues that the painter's personality is discernible no less in the subjects and their interpretation than in the 'style' of the works; consideration of both aspects is essential to understanding the meaning of these extraordinary pictures and her authorship. Perhaps even more important, Garrard makes crystal clear that Artemisia Gentileschi, far from a 'good woman painter,' was one of the major visual thinkers of her time."--Irving Lavin, co-author with Marilyn Aronberg Lavin, of La Liturgia d'Amore: Immagini dal Canto dei Cantici nell'arte di Cimabue, Michelangelo, e Rembrandt (Modena, 2000)

"Developing her earlier methodologies and revising some conclusions, Garrard clarifies her distinct theoretical approach and voice among feminist critiques of art history. In this text, which reads in part like a forensic mystery, Garrard builds not only an argument for attributions of particular works, but a new understanding of Gentileschi herself at a particular moment in history."--Hilary Robinson, editor of Visibly Female: Feminism and Art Today

"One of our most distinguished feminist art historians brings contemporary gender studies to bear on traditional paintings connoisseurship to show how attributions to female artists have often been governed by tacit cultural assumptions about the limitations of women. Her case makes compelling reading for anyone interested in early modern society, culture, women and art in Italy, and in the problematics of feminism and art history."--Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, author of Leonardo e la Scultura

"By revealing a great woman painter's ways of expressing uniqueness while negotiating expectations, Mary Garrard helps each of us with the subtleties of remaining authentic while living in the world. Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622 is art history to live by."--Gloria Steinem

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (February 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520228413
• ISBN-13: 978-0520228412
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Rococo
  • #65 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Baroque

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for the beginner, February 12, 2005

By 

D. L. Brash "Larry Brash" (Newcastle, NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artemisia Gentileschi around 1622: The Shaping and Reshaping of an Artistic Identity (The Discovery Series) (Paperback)

If you are wanting to discover more about one of history's greatest and most dramatic female artists, then this is not the book that would be the best starting point. Earlier works by Mary D. Garrard, such as her "Artemisia Gentileschi" (1989), would suit the new reader much better.

Garrard, in the current book, examines just two paintings, a Magdalen and a Susanna & the Elders, in great detail, dissecting their attributions on stylistic, historical, and radiographic grounds. As in her previous work, she takes a strong pro-feminist view and replies to many of her feminist critics.

It is not an easy-reading book, nor was it intended to be. However, it is a must for the hard-core Artemisia fan.